Nelson Mandela Quotes

Nelson Mandela Quotes

 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

― Nelson Mandela

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

― Nelson Mandela

“It always seems impossible until it's done.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

― Nelson Mandela

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

― Nelson Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

― Nelson Mandela

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

― Nelson Mandela

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

― Nelson Mandela

“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

― Nelson Mandela

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”

― Nelson Mandela

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

― Nelson Mandela

“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself... Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”

― Nelson Mandela

“ As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I am the captain of my soul.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Where you stand depends on where you sit.”

― Nelson Mandela

“One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.”

― Nelson Mandela

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

― Nelson Mandela

“A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“Appearances matter — and remember to smile.”

― Nelson Mandela

“We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

― Nelson Mandela

“Courage is not the absence of fear — it s inspiring others to move beyond it.”

― Nelson Mandela

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

― Nelson Mandela

“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up”

― Nelson Mandela

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Nothing is black or white.”

― Nelson Mandela

“You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.”

― Nelson Mandela

“In my country we go to prison first and then become President. ”

― Nelson Mandela

“One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela with Connections

“Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”

― Nelson Mandela

“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires”

― Nelson Mandela

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation”

― Nelson Mandela

“Quitting is leading too.”

― Nelson Mandela

“It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE AND THE CAPTAIN OF MY DESTINY.”

― Nelson Mandela

“When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”

― Nelson Mandela

“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer.”

― Nelson Mandela

“We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

― Nelson Mandela

“It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Tread softly,

Breathe peacefully,

Laugh hysterically.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.”

― Nelson Mandela

“The brave man is not the one who has no fears, he is the one who triumphs over his fears.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?”

― Nelson Mandela

“We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

― Nelson Mandela

“We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear.”

― Nelson Mandela

“There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”

― Nelson Mandela, Conversations With Myself

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.”

― Nelson Mandela

“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite... Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never explained.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“Lead from the front — but don t leave your base behind.”

― Nelson Mandela

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1918)”

― Nelson Mandela

“i love playing and chatting with children...feeding and putting them to bed with a little story, and being away from the family has troubled me throughout my...life. I like relaxing at the house, reading quietly, taking in the sweet smell that comes from the pots, sitting around a table with the family and taking out my wife and children. When you can no longer enjoy these simple pleasures something valuable is taken away from your life and you feel it in your daily work.”

― Nelson Mandela, Conversations With Myself

“Peace is the greatest weapon for development that any person can have.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.”

― Nelson Mandela

“No single person can liberate a country. You can only liberate a country if you act as a collective.”

― Nelson Mandela

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

― Nelson Mandela

“It is music and dancing that make me at peace with the world.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“Only free men can negotiate,prisoners can't enter in contracts”

― Nelson Mandela

“There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal trimuph if you have the iron will and the neccessary skill.”

― Nelson Mandela

“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly.”

― Nelson Mandela, Conversations With Myself

“Money wont create success, the fredom to make it will”

― Nelson Mandela

“I shall stick to our vow: never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other...The trouble, of course, is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity. There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egotistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.”

― Nelson Mandela, Conversations With Myself

“For a revolution is not just a question of pulling a trigger; its purpose is to create a fair just society”

― Nelson Mandela

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”

― Nelson Mandela

“He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant. Yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations and emerge with rational solutions to problems.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”

― Nelson Mandela

“We forgive but not forgotten”

― Nelson Mandela

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his kin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela

“It is most unusual to return to a place that has changed in ways you yourself have altered.”

― Nelson Mandela

“No one i born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Having resentment against someone is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill your enemy.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great...”

― Nelson Mandela

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

― Nelson Mandela

“A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle,and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.At a point, one can only fight fire with fire”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“There is no such thing as part freedom”

― Nelson Mandela

“Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Although Verwoerd thought Africans were lower than animals, his death did not yield us any pleasure. Political assassination is not something I or the ANC ever supported. It is a primitive way of contending with an opponent”

― Nelson Mandela

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears”

― Nelson Mandela

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination,” he told the court. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

― Nelson Mandela

“What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts,”

― Nelson Mandela

"As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

― Nelson Mandela

“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“after climbing a great hill i realized that there are many more hills to climb”

― Nelson Mandela

“If I had my time over I would do the same again, so would any man who dares call himself a man.”

― Nelson Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion … if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Tread softly,

Breathe peacefully,

Laugh hysterically.”

― Nelson Mandela”

― Nelson Mandela

“ When you are young and strong...you can stay alive on your hatred"....but realized later "They can take everything from me except my mind and heart"

― Nelson Mandela

“Non-violence is a good policy when conditions permit.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Violence was the only weapon that would destroy apartheid.”

― Nelson Mandela

“overcoming fear, personal scarifies for the cause of freedom of all, and ability to see good in your enemies – No one is born hating another person because of the color of your skin, or his background, or his religion … if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”

― Nelson Mandela

“I do not deny, however, that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the Whites.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Democracy meant all men were to be heard, and a decision was taken together as a people. Majority rule was a foreign notion. A minority was not to be crushed by a majority.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk To Freedom

“Out of the motorcar (I learned later that this majestic vehicle was a Ford V8) stepped a short, thickset man wearing a smart suit.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“all remained loyal to him, not because they always agreed with him, but because the regent listened to and respected different opinions.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk To Freedom

“I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.”

― Nelson Mandela

“But the hard facts were that fifty years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation, and fewer and fewer rights.”

― Nelson Mandela, Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom

“I believed that I would become a counsellor to the Thembu king,”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk To Freedom

“A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms and whose bodies are maimed in the course of the contest. From a letter to Winnie Mandela,”

― Nelson Mandela, Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom

“I was a young man who attempted to make up for his ignorance with militancy.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk To Freedom

“But I had little knowledge of Marxism, and in political discussions with my communist friends I found myself handicapped by my ignorance of their philosophy. I decided to remedy this.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk To Freedom

“It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and women of conscience that it took as long as it has, before all of us stood up to say enough is enough.”

― Nelson Mandela, Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom

“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

“Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom